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This month saw the return of a beloved, long-running comedy. The lead character is frequently offensive, disliked by many and consistently finds themselves at the centre of bizarre, hilarious scrapes. And if you don’t like The Banter Years, you can also watch new episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

The Banter Years has been running for several seasons to unprecedented critical acclaim. If you’ve not caught up with it yet I don’t want to spoil anything. All I’ll say is give the ‘2014/15 Scottish Premiership Play-off Final’ episode from season four a watch and then binge the rest.

That episode is to The Banter Years what ‘Pine Barrens’ is to The Sopranos or ‘Face Off’ is to Breaking Bad, distilling all the tension, violence and black humour that elevate the series to classic status. And, in Bilel Mohsni, it showcases a protagonist more fearsome than Tony Soprano and Heisenberg combined.

There had been rumours that The Banter Years would soon be cancelled, with a marked decrease in the amount of episodes produced since 2018. And yet, like Beyonce dropping Lemonade with no warning, some premium Banter Years arrived out of the blue last week.

A recurring theme, central to the show’s success, is hubris. Essentially, a misguided belief that the protagonists have turned a corner and are on their way to glory. This manifests itself in such iconic catchphrases as ‘The Rangers are coming’, ‘Going for 55’ and ‘Jordan Jones’.

The writers’ ingenious use of hubris was on show in the final episode of 2019, when one character broke the fourth wall and screamed at the camera while an excitable narrator said: “Look to your face. Look to your laurels. We’re back. We’re back with a BANG! And we’re coming after ye. WE’RE COMING AFTER YE. Glasgow is red, white and blue”.

Viewers unfamiliar with the show’s back story may have assumed this would be the final episode, but long-time fans knew this was just a cliffhanger. In this recent storyline, our heroes believed they had turned a vital corner in their quest to stop a deadly foe acquiring ‘the nine’ and possibly even ‘the ten’. Then said heroes went away for a break, came back and lost to Hearts.

Of course, even the best shows have their flaws. Landing a blow on their rivals in December then chucking it in January is a blatant retread of a storyline from the previous season. Fans are starting to see this one coming.

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Another Banter Years trope is the protagonists having their words thrown back in their faces. For instance, Celtic fans appropriating Rangers’ ‘Welcome to the Party’ song as they extend their lead at the top of the table to seven points.

That example, though, was comprehensively overshadowed by one of the most absurd storylines in the show’s entire run. Without wishing to give too many plot details away, a man’s wife is reported to have hired a private investigator to plant a tracking device on her husband’s Lamborghini, and that led angry internet people to accuse certain former Celtic players of trying to drive him out of the country.

One of their targets issued a devastating speech in Sunday’s episode, saying: “It’s a worry for Rangers, they’ve hit the brakes haven’t they. They went into the winter break like a top of the range sports car and they’ve come out like a spluttering three-wheeler, Darrell”.

The Banter Years also follows the classic sitcom template of hilarious romantic catastrophes. Where Friends had Ross and Rachel’s ‘break’ and Frasier had Niles and Daphne’s ‘will they/won’t they’, The Banter Years has new character Florian Kamberi and Hibs fan Jane Park. Or ‘LOTTO BABE JANE PARK’ if you’re writing for certain tabloids.

When Kamberi joined the main character in Friday’s episode, he talked of how he had longed for them since arriving in Scotland. Park was not particularly impressed, and she commented: “Yer a f***ing donkey on the pitch and in the bed. Up the road stupit”. An absolutely outrageous allegation, and one that’s easily debunked. According to Wikipedia, he’s scored eight goals this season.

The Banter Years is going for yet another season, and at this rate it’ll be going for 55.